
Archibald Campbell (21 August 1739 – 31 March 1791) was Governor of Georgia from 1778 to 1779, succeeding James Wright and preceding Mark Prevost, and Governor of Jamaica from 1781 to 1784, succeeding John Dalling and preceding Alured Clarke. Campbell served in the American Revolutionary War as a Major-General, and he is most famous for his role in the capture of Savannah in 1778.
Biography[]
Archibald Campbell was born on 21 August 1739 in Inveraray, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and he was educated at Glasgow University and the Royal Military Academy. Campbell served in the Seven Years' War at the battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, during which he was wounded. Campbell was stationed in India in the 1760s, using investments in India to purchase estates back in Scotland. In 1776, Campbell fought in the American Revolutionary War, and he was captured aboard a ship in Boston harbor when the city fell to the patriots. Campbell was released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, and he was exchanged for Ethan Allen, having complained about the dire conditions under which he was held. Campbell led 3,000 troops from New York to Georgia in 1778 and captured Savannah from the patriots, and Nathanael Greene praised his enemy. From 1778 to 1779, he served as provisional governor of Georgia after James Wright's departure, and he made Mark Prevost his successor before returning to England. In 1782, Campbell was appointed Governor of Jamaica, materially assisting Admiral George Rodney in his victory at the Battle of the Saintes against the French Navy. Campbell would serve as governor of Madras and in other posts in India the 1780s, and he died in London in 1791 at the age of 51.